The four horses climbed briskly after that and brought the yellow coach to an old stone gateway. At the end of the Caslon farm the stone wall had begun, and now it stretched ahead, up over the rise, as far as anything was to be seen. Indeed, it seemed to melt right into the sky.
Bobbins turned the leaders" noses in at the gateway. Already it was shown that the new owner had begun to improve the estate. The driveway was an example of what road-making should be-entirely different from the hap-hazard work done on the country roads.
There were beautiful pastures on either hand, all fenced in with wire-"horse high, bull strong, and pig tight," as Bobbins explained, proudly. There were horses in one pasture and a herd of cows in another.
Beyond, sheep dotted a rocky bit of the hillside, and the thin, sweet "baa-as" of the lambs came to their ears as the coach rolled on.
The visitors were delighted. Every minute they saw something to exclaim over. A pair of beautifully spotted coach dogs raced down the drive, and cavorted about the coach, eagerly welcoming them.
When they finally topped the hill and came out upon the tableland on which the house and the main buildings of Sunrise Farm stood, they received a welcome indeed.
There was a big farm bell hung to a creaking arm in the water-tower beside the old colonial dwelling. The instant the leaders" ears topped the rise, and while yet the coach was a long way off, several youngsters swung themselves on the bell-rope, and the alarm reverberated across the hills and valleys in no uncertain tone.
Beside this, a cannon that was something bigger than a toy, "spoke"
loudly on the front lawn, and a flag was run up the pole set here in a prominent place before the house. Mr. and Mrs. Steele stood on the broad veranda, between the main pillars, to receive them, and when the coach drew up with a flourish, the horde of younger Steeles-Madge"s and Bob"s brothers and sisters, whom the big sister called "steel filings"-charged around from the bell-tower. There were four or five of the younger children, all seemingly about of an age, and they made as much confusion as an army.
"Welcome to Sunrise, girls and boys," said Mr. Steele, who was a short, brisk, chubby man, with an abrupt manner, but with an unmistakably kind heart, or he would not have sanctioned the descent of this horde of young folk upon the place. "Welcome to Sunrise! We want you all to have a good time here. The place is open to you, and all Mother Steele begs is that you will not break your necks or get into any other serious trouble."
Mrs. Steele was much taller than her husband; it was positive that Madge and Bobbins got their height from her side of the family. All the younger Steele seemed chubby and round like their father.
Everybody seemed so jolly and kind that it was quite surprising to see how the faces of both Mother and Father Steele, as well as their children, changed at the long lunch table, half an hour later, when the name of Caslon, the neighboring farmer, was mentioned.
"What d"ye think they have been telling me at the stables, Pa?" cried Bobbins, when there was a lull in the conversation so that he could be heard from his end of the table to his father"s seat.
"I can"t say. What?" responded Mr. Steele.
"About those Caslons. What do you suppose they"re going to do now?"
"Ha!" exclaimed the gentleman, his face darkening. "Nothing you have heard could surprise me."
"I bet this does," chuckled Bob. "They are going to take a whole raft of fresh air kids to board. What do you know about that? Little ragam.u.f.fins from some school, or asylum, or hospital, or something. Won"t they make a mess all over this hill?"
"Ha! he"s done that to spite me," exclaimed Mr. Steele. "But I"ll post my line next to his, and if those young ones trespa.s.s, I"ll see what my lawyer in Darrowtown can do about it."
"It shows what kind of people those Caslons are," said Mrs. Steele, with a sigh. "Of course, they know such a crowd of children will be very annoying to the neighbors."
"And we"re the only neighbors," added Bob.
"Seems to me," said Madge, slowly, "that I have heard the Caslons always _do_ take a bunch of fresh air children in the summer."
"Oh, I fancy he is doing it this year just to spite us," said her father, shortly. "But I"ll show him--"
He became gloomy, and a cloud seemed to fall upon the whole table for the remainder of the meal. It was evident that nothing the neighboring farmer could do would be looked upon with favorable eyes by the Steeles.
Ruth did not comment upon the situation, as some of the other girls did out of hearing of their hosts. It _did_ seem too bad that the Steeles should drag this trouble with a neighbor into the public eye so much.
The girl of the Red Mill could not help but remember the jovial looking old farmer and his placid wife, and she felt sure they were not people who would deliberately annoy their neighbors. Yet, the Steeles had taken such a dislike to the Caslons it was evident they could see no good in the old farmer and his wife.
The Steeles had come directly from the city and had brought most of their servants with them from their city home. They had hired very few local men, even on the farm. Therefore they were not at all in touch with their neighbors, or with any of the "natives."
Mr. Steele was a city man, through and through. He had not even lived in the country when he was a boy. His own children knew much more about out-of-doors than he, or his wife.
The host was a very successful business man, had made money of late years, and wished to spend some of his gains now in laying out the finest "gentleman"s farm" in that quarter of the State. To be balked right at the start by what he called "a cowhide-booted old Rube" was a cross that Mr. Steele could not bear with composure.
The young folks, naturally (save Ruth), were not much interested in the controversy between their hosts and the neighboring farmer. There was too much fun going on for both girls and boys to think of much beside.
That afternoon they overran the house and stables, numbered the sheep, watched the tiny pigs and their mothers in the clover-lot, were delighted with the colts that ran with their mothers in the paddock, played with the calves, and got acquainted in general with the livestock of Sunrise Farm.
"Only we haven"t goats," said Bobbins. "I"ve been trying to get father to buy some Angoras. Old Caslon has the best stock anywhere around, and father says he won"t try to buy of _him_. I"d like to send off for a good big billy-goat and turn him into Caslon"s back pasture. I bet there"d be a fight, for Caslon"s got a billy that"ll chase you just as soon as he"d wink."
"We"d better keep out of _that_ pasture, then," laughed one of the girls.
"Oh, father"s forbidden us trespa.s.sing on Caslon"s land. We"d like to catch him on _our_ side of the line, that"s all!"
"Who-Mr. Caslon, or the billy?" asked Tom, chuckling.
"Either one," said Bob, shaking his head threateningly.
Everyone was in bed early that night, for all were tired; but the boys had a whispered colloquy before they went to sleep in their own big room at the top of the house, and Bob tied a cord to his big toe and weighted the other end so that it would drop out of the window and hang just about head-high above the gra.s.s.
The first stableman up about the place ran over from the barns and gave Master Bob"s cord a yank, according to instructions, and pretty nearly hauled that ingenious chap out of bed before the eastern sky was even streaked with light.
"Gee! have we got to get up now?" demanded Busy Izzy, aroused, as were the other boys, by Bobbins dancing about the floor and rubbing his toe.
"Somebody has been foolin" you-it"s nowheres near morning."
"Bet a dog jumped up and bit that string you hung out of the window,"
chuckled Tom Cameron.
He looked at his watch and saw that it really was after four o"clock.
"Come on, then!" Tom added, rolling Ralph Tingley out of bed. "We must do as we said, and surprise the girls."
"Sh!" commanded Bobbins. "No noise. We want to slide out easy."
With much m.u.f.fled giggling and wrestling, they dressed and made their way downstairs. The maids were just astir.
The boys had something particular to do, and they went to work at it very promptly, under Tom Cameron"s leadership. Behind one of the farther barns was a sharp, but smooth slope, well sodded, which descended to the line of the farm that adjoined Mr. Caslon"s. There, at the bottom, the land sloped up again to the stone wall that divided the two estates.
It was a fine place for a slide in winter, somebody had said; but Tom"s quick wit suggested that it would be a good place for a slide in summer, too! And the boys had laid their plans for this early morning job accordingly.
Before breakfast they had built a dozen barrel-stave toboggans-each long enough to hold two persons, if it was so desired.
Tom and Bobbins tried them first and showed the crowd how fine a slide it really was down the long, gra.s.sy bank. The most timid girl in the crowd finally was convinced that it was safe, and for several hours, the shrieks of delight and laughter from that hillside proved that a sport out of season was all the better appreciated because it was novel.
Over the broad stone wall was the pasture in which Caslon kept his flock of goats. Beautiful, long-haired creatures they were, but the solemn old leader of the flock stamped his feet at the curious girls and boys who looked over the wall, and shook his horns.
Somewhere, along by the boundary of the two estates, Bob said there was a spring, and Ruth and Helen slipped off by themselves to find it. A wild bit of brush pasture soon hid them from the view of their friends, and as they went over a small ridge and down into the deeper valley, the laughter and shouting of those at the slide gradually died away behind them.